Abstract
The question of how a creative practice can be a pedagogical practice is increasingly relevant as cultural institutions welcome an educational turn in contemporary art. We must ask, are there limits to this hospitality? I argue it is the teachers, who “unspool” their curricula, intentionally twisting it around their creative practice, who are left outside this cultural embrace. I will demonstrate how my artistic practice curls in and out of the classroom, ensnaring people, sites, ecosystems, and ideas in a reciprocal tangle of conceptual art. In May 2024, I was invited to a remote corner of Northeastern Nevada to participate in the Montello Foundation artist-in-residence program. Each morning, I began the day by walking. Wading through the sagebrush ocean, I learned the language of a thriving community no taller than my socks; an ankles-high ecosystem. I often followed the only visible trace of humans, a barbed wire fence-line, and gathered pieces of errant wire caught in the brush. In essence, I partnered with the landscape to create an invisible miles-long contour drawing. The retrieved wire was used to create a large 25’ x 10’ drawing installed on the studio wall. When I reflect on the entanglements of my creative practice, I examine the snares. What gets caught up? What methods do I employ to interrogate these complex knots? What happens when I resist the urge to straighten out (or up?) and embrace the idiosyncratic methodologies that bend and twist in an interwoven gesture of reciprocity, the gift of making art.
Presenters
Joshua GrahamAssistant Professor, Department of Art & Art History, University of Utah, Utah, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
2025 Special Focus—The Art of Hospitality
KEYWORDS
Conceptual Art, Place-based education, Action-research, Sustainability, Reciprocity
